The Skinny: Montreal 4, Isles 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 74

Montreal 4, Isles 0

Joel Armia's goal with seven seconds to play in the first period was followed by three Montreal goals in the first 8:19 of the second as the Canadiens handed the Isles their second straight shutout with a 4-0 victory over the Isles before a sellout crowd of 21,302 at Bell Centre. 

Carey Price made 28 saves for his 44th career shutout; it was his second career shutout against the Isles. Price has won a franchise-record  317 games for Montreal.

The loss leaves the Isles three points behind idle Washington; Pittsburgh beat Nashville in a shootout to join the Isles at 91 points (the Isles have a game-in-hand on Pittsburgh). 

The Isles' magic number to clinch a playoff spot fell to 10 when Columbus lost to Edmonton. 

The Scoring: 

1st Period

Joel Armia (11) Jordan Weal, Jonathan Drouin 19:53 NYI 0,MTL 1 PPG

2nd Period

Shea Weber (13) 01:03 NYI 0,MTL 2

Jonathan Drouin (18) Joel Armia, Jesperi Kotkaniemi 06:00 NYI 0,MTL 3

Jordan Weal (6) Jordie Benn, Nate Thompson 08:19 NYI 0,MTL 4

3rd Period

No Goals

The Skinny   

The Isles are 28-13-3 in their last 43 games but are 7-8-1 in their last 16 games . The Isles have surpassed last season's win and point total; including shootout winners they have scored 35 fewer goals and allowed 88 fewer goals than last year's first 74 games… The Isles have 48 points at home and 43 points on the road … The Isles were charged with 22 giveaways for the second straight game; they have been charged with at least 22 five times this month (after only once in the first five months of the season)… Both Thomas Greiss (4 goals on 22 shots) and Robin Lehner ( 0 goals on 12 shots) played tonight. On the season, Lehner has faced 9 more shots and allowed one more goal than Greiss… Jonathan Drouin's goal was his first in 18 games…Carey Price improved to 8-0-1 in his last nine decisions at home…The Isles have allowed three goals in a period nine times this season (0-3-0). 

The Injuries

Scott Mayfield left the game in the third period after being hit by Andrew Shaw.

History Lesson

The Isles have been shutout in consecutive games for the first time since November 19-21, 2011 (6-0 by Boston and 5-0 in Pittsburgh) and have allowed nine consecutive goals for the first time since February 18-19, 2013 (7-0 loss to Philadelphia and then allowed first two goals to Ottawa).

Metro Playoff Watch

1. Caps 94 points/74 games/39 ROW (Friday vs. Minnesota, Sunday vs. Philadelphia)

2. Isles 91 points/74 games/38 ROW (Saturday at Philadelphia, Sunday vs. Arizona)

3. Penguins 91 points/75 games/38 ROW (Saturday at Dallas, Monday at Rangers)

4. Hurricanes 87 points/73 games/38 ROW (Saturday vs. Minnesota, Sunday vs Montreal)

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5. Blue Jackets 84 points/74 games/39 ROW (Sunday at Vancouver, Tuesday vs. Isles)

6. Flyers 80 points/74 games/34 ROW (Saturday vs. Isles, Sunday at Washington)

Also in Wild Card Race

Canadiens 85 points/74 games/37 ROW (Saturday vs. Buffalo, Sunday at Carolina)

Magic Numbers:

The Isles' Magic Number to clinch a playoff spot is 10.  It could go as low as 8 (with a win of any type) on Thursday.

 

Goal Differential

With the Isles losing by four goals tonight, the Isles now have a +24-goal differential to Washington's +25. It is this tie-breaker that had the Isles in first place in the Metro Division entering play on Tuesday but the Isles now not only trail Washington by three points, they also trail in the tiebreaker.   Pittsburgh now has a +29 differential; for the Isles to remain in second place following their afternoon game on Saturday, they must earn at least a point.  Otherwise they will trail the Penguins by the goal differential tie-breaker.

  

22-Game Winner

Thomas Greiss has 22 wins. He is only the fourth goalie in club history to have at least three 22-win seasons, joining Glenn Resch (5), Billy Smith (5), and Rick DiPietro (4).

Strength in the Nets

Thomas Greiss has won 22 games and Robin Lehner has won 20.  It's the 1st time in the last 35 years that two different Isles goalies have won at least 20 games; Billy Smith won 23 games and Roland Melanson won 20 in 1983-84.

Best Goals Against Average by An Islander in a Season

1. Chico Resch 1975-76 2.08

2. Robin Lehner 2018-19 2.23

3. Chico Resch 1975-76 2.28

4. Thomas Greiss 2018-19 2.29

5. Jaroslav Halak 2015-16 2.30

Best Save Percentage by an Islander in a Season 

1. Chico Resch 1975-76 .928 (.9276)

2. Thomas Greiss 2018-19 .926 

3. Robin Lehner 2018-19 .926

4. Thomas Greiss 2015-16 .925

The Best (Fourth) Line in Hockey

The Isles are 29-14-6 when Casey Cizikas, Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck all play and are 13-11-1 when one or more miss a game.  

For the + Column

Casey Cizikas was EVEN and is now +23 on the season.  In the last 30 seasons, only six Islander forwards have finished +25 or higher.

1. Marty McInnis 1993-94 +31 

2. Benoit Hogue 1991-92 +30

3. Ray Ferraro 1991-92 +25

4. Casey Cizikas 2018-19 +23

        Ryan Strome 2014-15 +23

        Trent Hunter 2003-04 +23

Most Goals by an Isle With 0 PP goals

• 22- Bob Nystrom (81-82), Butch Goring (83-84), Randy Wood (87-88)

• 21- Garry Howatt (75-76), Brent Sutter (82-83)

• 20- John Tonelli (85-86), Jason Chimera (16-17)

• 19- Steve Tambellini (80-81), Casey Cizikas (18-19)

It's Good to be Home

The Isles are 10-6-2 on Coliseum ice; they are averaging 96.6% of capacity on Long Island (including 11 sellouts).  

 

Most Points Thru 74 Games (Post-Cup Era)

• 93: 2014-15

• 91: 2018-19

• 89: 2015-16

Most Points Thru 36 Road Games

• 46: 1976-77

• 45: 1980-81

• 43: 2018-19

• 43: 1978-79

• 42: 1975-76

• 42: 2014-15

• 41: 1981-82

• 41: 1977-78

Most Points Thru 38 Home Games (Post-Cup Era)

• 52: 1984-85

• 52: 2003-04

• 52: 2015-16

• 50: 1987-88

• 48: 2018-19

• 48: 1985-86

• 47: 2014-15

• 47: 2016-17

Fewest Goals Allowed Thru 74 Games (Includes SO)

• 176 1975-76

• 177 1976-77  

• 182 2018-19

Road Warriors

The Isles are 11-5-2 in their last 18 road games and 14-6-2 in their last 22 road games.   

Worst to First

The Isles allowed the most goals in the NHL last season.  Only once in NHL history has a team allowed the most goals in one season and the fewest in the next; the Ottawa Senators did so in 1917-18 and 1918-19.   Here's where the Isles are this season:  

Fewest Goals Allowed This Season (Including SO goals) 

The Jennings Trophy is awarded based on goals allowed including shootout goals.

1. ISLES 182

2. Dallas 183

3. Boston 186

Fewest Goals Allowed This Season (excluding SO goals)

1. ISLES 177

2. Dallas 182

3. Boston 183

Coach Trotz

Among active coaches, Barry Trotz has coached the most games and is 2nd to Ken Hitchcock in wins. Trotz' NHL record is 804-593-60-141 in 1,598 games. 

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  890

3. Ken Hitchcock    847

4. Barry Trotz   804

5. Al Arbour   782

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,636

3. Al Arbour   1,607

4. Barry Trotz   1,598

5. Ken Hitchcock   1,590

Trotz, who will coach his 1,600th game on March 24th, will catch Al Arbour in games coached on Opening Night next season. If Quenneville doesn't return to coaching Trotz would pass him sometime in December 2019.

This Season vs. Last Season

This Season: 42-25-7 (91 points), with 206 goals scored and 182 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

Last Season: 31-33-10 (72 points), with 241 goals scored and 270 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

The Isles have allowed 88 fewer goals, a decrease of 32.6% as compared to last season.

Last Season (final): 35-37-10 (80 points), with 264 goals scored and 296 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

First Things First

The Isles are 27-9-5 when scoring first and are 15-16-2 when allowing the opening goal (which includes a 1-0 shootout loss).  

Highest Percentage of Games Won (Post-Cup Era) Allowing First Goal

• .545 (18-13-2) 2014-15

• .455 (15-16-2) 2018-19

• .410 (14-21-4) 1985-86

The Shots

Isles        10-10-8=28

Montreal  13-13-8=34

The Isles are 13-14-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-2-0 when the shots are even and 29-9-6 when they are outshot. [The 29 wins when outshot are a franchise record; they won 25 in both 1983-84 and 2017-18.]

The Isles lead the NHL in wins when outshot.  Three teams won 30 games last year when outshot, but nobody has won more since 2015-16 when Ottawa won 33.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 42-25-7 overall; 22-12-4 at home (10-6-2 on Long Island and 12-6-2 in Brooklyn) and 20-13-3 on the road.  All their remaining regular season home games are at the Nassau Coliseum.

Montreal is 39-28-7 overall; 21-12-4 at home and 18-16-3 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 16-8-1 in Division games and 26-17-6 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 26-15-5 against the East and 16-10-2 against the West.  

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 18 saves before being replaced after Montreal's 4th goal.  Greiss falls to  22-13-2 on the season and 4-4-2 in his career against Montreal.   Robin Lehner made 12 saves in relief

Carey Price made 28 saves as he improved to 31-22-5 on the season and 12-6-4 against the Islanders.  

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play in 5:39 of PP time; Montreal was 1-2 on the power play in 2:22 of PP time.

The Isles are 23-2-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 19-23-5 when they do not.  The Isles are 14-14-5 when they allow at least one power play goal and 28-11-2 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 34-2-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 8-23-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 17-5-7 in games decided by a single goal including 7-5 in regulation. They are 6-2 in games decided in overtime and are 4-5 in shootouts.  The Isles are 6-6 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Tired vs. Rested 

• The Isles are 5-0-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-0-1 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 5-1-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 26-24-5 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (24:26); Montreal: Shea Weber (22:36)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 18:14 of ice-time

Isles record by ice-time leader: Ryan Pulock (19-13-5), Nick Leddy (14-9-2), Scott Mayfield (8-1-0), Johnny Boychuk (0-1-0), Adam Pelech (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 16, Montreal 30 (35%).  

Casey Cizikas won 7 of 12 for the Isles but his teammates won only 9 of 34; Jordan Weal won 6 of 7 for Montreal.  

Face-offs by period: 1st period 8/16; 2nd period 4/14; 3rd period 4/16.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 14/36, Power play 2/6, Penalty kill 0/2.

Hit Count

Isles 38 (Matt Martin -8)  

Montreal 36 (Joel Armia-6)

   

Fights

Thomas Hickey fought Brendan Gallagher in the 3rd period for the 2nd fight of his career. Season total –16 (Scott Mayfield -4, Ross Johnston-3, Matt Martin -3, Anders Lee- 2, Josh Bailey, Johnny Boychuk, Jordan Eberle, Thomas Hickey).  

 

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 19 shots (Nick Leddy -4) 

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 50, Montreal 64

5-on-5 Isles 47, Montreal 56

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Devon Toews +12 

Montreal: Victor Mete +16

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 7-4-1 in the front half and 10-1-1 in the back half. The final back-to-back of the season is on Saturday in Philadelphia and Sunday vs. Arizona. 

The Isles won the first nine back-ends of back-to-backs this season, establishing a new club record for consecutive wins in back ends, but are 1-1-1 in the last three back-ends. 

Night and Day

The Isles are 36-21-7 in night games and 6-4-0 in matinees. The final two matinees are next weekend (March 23rd in Philly and March 24th vs. Arizona (at the Coliseum). 

Ironmen

Anders Lee 192, Brock Nelson 169, Mathew Barzal 156.  Four other Isles: Nick Leddy, Ryan Pulock, Josh Bailey and Leo Komarov have appeared in every game this season.

Scratches

(Valtteri Filppula), Johnny Boychuk, Tom Kuhnhackl, Michael Dal Colle, Luca Sbisa, Dennis Seidenberg, Ross Johnston

Total games lost: 135

Comeback Kings

The Isles are 6-7-1 when trailing in a game by a 2-0 score, defeating NYR (11/15), CBJ (12/1), DET (12/8), OTT (12/28), STL (1/5) and COL (2/9 - OT), while earning a point vs. EDM (2/21 – OTL).

The Isles are 15-1-1 when scoring the game's first two goals.

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored once in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

1/10- NY Rangers-Josh Bailey scored the winning goal (18:34)

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal four times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

10/4 – CAR Hurricanes – Jordan Staal tied game (18:25), but Isles won in overtime.

11/8 – TB Lightning – Tyler Johnson scored the winning goal (18:34)

11/23 – NJ Devils – Marcus Johansson tied game (19:49), but Isles won in overtime.

12/15- DET Red Wings – Thomas Vanek tied game (18:57), but Isles won in a shootout.

Offside Challenges

12/8 vs DET Red Wings – Red Wings goal overturned after successful Isles challenge.

12/20 vs VEG Golden Knights – Golden Knights goal overturned after successful Isles challenge.

1/8 vs CAR Hurricanes – Isles goal overturned after successful Hurricane challenge

2/5 vs BOS Bruins – Isles goal overturned after successful Bruin challenge.

2/28 vs TOR Maple Leafs – Maple Leaf goal overturned after successful Isles challenge.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 *** 4. Clark Gillies 872 *** 

5. Bob Bourne 814***6. Josh Bailey 789

Goals

1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …

14. Patrick Flatley 160 *** 15. Anders Lee 151 …

17. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 18. Kyle Okposo 139 ***19. Josh Bailey 138…

20. Jason Blake 127 *** 21. Duane Sutter and  Brock Nelson 121

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553…

9. Stefan Persson 317 *** 10. Bob Bourne 304 *** 11.  Josh Bailey 289 …

26. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 27. David Volek 154 *** 28. Mariusz Czerkawski and Nick Leddy 150

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052…

12. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 427…

24. Ed Westfall 286 *** 25. Steve Thomas and  Jason Blake 258 *** 27. Anders Lee 254

Games Played (Goalies)

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …

6. Jaroslav Halak 177 *** 7. Glenn Healy 176 *** 8. Thomas Greiss 160

Wins (Goalie)

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130*** 4. Kelly Hrudey 108***

5. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 6.  Thomas Greiss 84

Shutouts (Goalie)

1. Glenn Resch 25 ***2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 16 *** 4. Tommy Salo 14***

5. Jaroslav Halak 12 *** 6.  Thomas Greiss 10

Season Series Stats

Montreal wins the season series 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 3).  

Joel Armia, who was credited with shootout deciding goal against the Isles in November, was credited with the Game Winning Goal tonight.

The Isles are 4-3-1 in the last eight games against Montreal.

On the Farm  

In a rare midweek game, Sebastian Aho scored the Sound Tigers' only goal as Bridgeport fell 2-1 to the Toronto Marlies. Bridgeport is 9-2-1-0 in their last 12 games, is 13-3-2-0 in their last 18 games and  37-20-65-2 on the season.  

Bridgeport continues their eight-game homestand on Saturday against Belleville. The Sound Tigers' magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 13.

Leaders:  Goals: Steve Bernier 21; Assists: Chris Bourque 33; Points: Chris Bourque 46; +/-: Otto Koivula +15.  Goalies: Jeremy Smith 19-11-3 (2.82 GAA); Christopher Gibson 18-10-4 (2.97 GAA)

Up Next

SATURDAY, MARCH 23th –ISLANDERS AT PHILADELPHIA 1:00PM 

[MSG+ (Pre-game at 12:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM,WRCN 103.9FM, Radio.com] 

The Isles conclude their season series with the Flyers with a match-up in Philadelphia.  The road team has won the first three games this season, outscoring the home team 15-4.  The Isles won 6-1 in Philadelphia in November before the Flyers defeated the Isles 4-1 and 5-2 earlier this month.

The Isles will be looking to avoid losing to Philadelphia three times in the same calendar month for the first time since March 2008 (11 years).

 

The Isles' magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 10, but it would fall to 8 with an Islander win. 

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources.  Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick